Coach’s Corner | Premiership quality a massive boost for national set-up
At this time of year rugby seems to be on everybody’s mind, not least with the 40th anniversary of the Hong Kong Sevens just around the corner. But looming even closer following Saturday’s climax to the HKRFU Premiership regular season are the Grand Championships.
At this time of year rugby seems to be on everybody’s mind, not least with the 40th anniversary of the Hong Kong Sevens just around the corner. But looming even closer following Saturday’s climax to the HKRFU Premiership regular season are the Grand Championships.
In the five seasons I have been in Hong Kong the quality of the game played in our top-flight league has risen exponentially. When you consider that in my first season at the helm of Leighton Asia HKCC we were wheeling out the likes of HKRFU secretary Martin Kibble for a first 15 game, so I’m sure you can appreciate how far the level of competition has grown!
Players with considerable rugby pedigree – both from overseas and here in Hong Kong – can now be seen in action every week during the season.
Our top teams are guided by coaches who are no less experienced, with veterans of the Rugby World Cup and elite northern and southern hemisphere leagues.
The quality of our domestic Premiership, combined with the full-time influence of the sevens players, has unquestionably strengthened the pool of players we have to pick from at Hong Kong national level
The result of this growth is a product that, aside from Japan’s fully established professional competition, is easily the best performance league in Asia.
